Attack of the Mutants Combat Rules

These are preliminary so may be tweeked by the time Nashcon rolls around.

AotM Combat System

Combat happens when one force enters an area containing an enemy force. Combat is fought until one side is destroyed or forced to retreat. The mutants have a different style than the “normies.” The mutants are much simpler in how they play out.

The mutants place 1-3 mutants into the combat area. The humans may do the same. The humans then call out the special benefits they get from the characters in the room.

Character

Benefits

Professor Applewhite

+1 CV to Grip bots in the same area

Professor Richardson

+1 CV to Gun bots in the same area

Dr. Mincy

-1 turns to open Ad Astra gate if in control room from turn 7 onward

Leon “Buck” Bukaw

Any group with him can move twice.

Penny Applewhite

+1 CV to Buck or +1 Repair to Percy but if all three are together then everyone is -1 CV.

Percy Fitzwater

Can cancel one Professor Applewhite event card if in a room named on the card.

Gun Bot

If the only defender; may opt to put up a wall of lead: CV 2 x6: place one die on each mutant (even if in reserve), discard the rest, if any.)

Grip Bot

If in reserve may attempt Repair 5+ on other robots in combat.

There are three types of mutants

Leader Mutant (black base)

CV 5

Radioactive Mutant (red base)

CV 4 x2

Regular Mutant (green base)

CV 2

Human CV

Professor Applewhite

CV 2 x2

Professor Richardson

CV 4

Dr. Mincy

CV 3

“Buck” Bukaw

CV 5

Penny Applewhite

CV 4

Percy Fitzwater

CV 3

Gun Bot

CV 3 x2

Grip Bot

CV 4

Pair off combatants then roll a six-sided die and add the CV. If the CV has a “x2” then roll an extra die and discard the lower scoring one. If the value of CV + die roll is equal for both sides then it is a push. Otherwise the side that gets the higher score wins. Mutants are always removed when they lose this way. Humans and robots are considered “down” but not yet “dead.” If at the end of a combat round there are still as many humans and Grip Bots up as there are humans and robots down, they can retreat, dragging their wounded which recover once safe. In order to retreat there needs to be an adjacent area that does not contain any enemies. If retreat is impossible then any losses are immediately taken as dead.

Sequence

Force that moved into the area is the Attacker, resident force is the Defender.

1.Defender determines who will fight and who will be in reserve for their side.

2.Attacker pairs off against defender fighters, places any un paired forces in reserve.

3.Attacker rolls dice for each fighter, defender does the same.

4.Calculate final score for each fighter and remove any that go down or are killed.

5.If the humans still have 50% of their force they may retreat to an adjacent area that is unoccupied.

6.If there are still combatants, go back to step 1 and continue the fight.

Multiple combatants against one

In the case of multiple combatants the score of the one is compared to the scores of the others. Any who fail to meet or beat the final score are defeated and removed. In the case of a single, defending Gun Bot putting up a wall of lead, if one zombie survives with a higher final score, the Gun Bot is destroyed and removed from play. A lone defender Gun Bot up against 7 or more mutants is destroyed automatically after combat is resolved. The “Wall of Lead” is the only situation in which troops in reserve can be killed.

Comments

After some playtesting I’ve determined that attackers should win ties – giving an incentive for all sides to engage. The humans have the edge, especially being able to repair robots between rounds. I need to fully flesh out the sequence of combat from round to round. The important distinction is the timing of retreats. It seems with some play testing that retreating from combat as soon as it is going bad is incredibly important for the survival of the humans. The mutants, of course, want to prevent this so any effort put towards setting up blocking positions is very useful and could lead to the elimination of major pockets of human resistance!

I see also the game balance is easily tipped so I have to be quite careful with the use of the event cards. I may make each one give a benefit to both sides to maintain the balance.

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